A shadow in the ember

Chapter 13

The smile that spread across Ash’s face wasn’t slight or faint. It was wide and full of heated sensuality. I caught a brief glimpse of his teeth, two slightly elongated, sharp…fangs.

Now that I could really see them, I knew they weren’t the size of a finger like Tavius had once claimed, but I knew they could tear into my skin with shocking ease, nonetheless. The sight of them was yet another reminder of what Ash was. They brought forth a shivery mixture of fear and shameful excitement.

He moved then, erasing the distance between us. Every cell of my body tensed in a breathless sort of anticipation as that woodsy, citrus scent surrounded me.

“I don’t think I ever wanted to hear the word yes more than I do now,” he said, the bridge of his nose brushing mine. The shiver coursing through me had nothing to do with the cool touch of his skin. “Ever.”

Then his lips met mine, and the first touch was just that. A touch. But it was still a shock to my entire system, just like the moment I first entered the water. His lips were cool against mine, and the press of them was soft like satin over steel. He tilted his head slightly, and then I wasn’t thinking about his lips.

I wasn’t thinking at all.

The pressure of the kiss increased, and he tugged at my bottom lip with those sharp fangs. I gasped, my entire body shuddering.

His breathy laugh touched my lips. “I like that sound. A lot.”

“I liked that,” I whispered. “A lot.”

“But that, liessa, was barely a kiss.”

My blood thrummed as his hand settled around the nape of my neck. Liessa. Something beautiful and powerful… I felt like that now.

His mouth touched mine once more, and this kiss…it was nothing like the gentle touch of before. It was harder, and the feel of the tip of his tongue against the seam of my lips sent my heart racing. I opened for him, and the kiss wasn’t only deep. The flick of his tongue against mine was an exploration that tasted of honey and ice, and he kissed as if the same, almost frenzied curiosity that drove me also rode him. To know what it was like to feel wanted, desired, cherished. To just feel. I knew that was ridiculous. I didn’t think gods had that same curiosity, but the rawness of his kiss went beyond that need to know, as his hand threaded through my hair and his other flattened against my cheek. The kiss became all those things. I’d had no idea that a kiss could be like this.

Needing to feel more, I moved my hands to his shoulders. He shuddered at my touch. His skin was cool, and I didn’t know how he could feel that way when I was a sparking fire. I tugged on him, wanting him closer, only slightly concerned that I wasn’t apprehensive about that desire. A distant, still-operating part of my mind knew I should be more worried because I was feeling wonderfully impulsive and gloriously reckless.

But he was closer, and that was all I wanted to be concerned with. His large body urged mine down, and there wasn’t even a flicker of hesitation before my back met the grass. The weight of his upper body and the coolness of his bare skin bleeding through the thin slip as his chest pressed against mine was a heady, decadent shock to my senses.

The rumbling sound that came from him danced over my skin, my breasts, and then lower still. He seemed to be as affected, and that left me reeling in a dizzying way, knowing that he—a god—could react so strongly.

Hands trembling slightly, I ran my fingers through his hair and then across his skin where the tattoo stretched to the nape of his neck. He slid his hand out from my hair as mine traveled over the corded muscles lining his spine. His fingers grazed the length of my arm, from the top of my hand all the way to my shoulder and then down again. His palm glided against the side of my breast and then to my waist. A soft sound left me as my back arched, one I’d only ever heard in the shadowy areas of the garden or in the heavily curtained rooms of The Jade.

His hand stilled on my hip, his touch becoming heavier there as his mouth left mine. “Was that kiss satisfactory?”

My eyes fluttered open, colliding with his. “It will do.”

He laughed, low and throaty. “You’re hard to impress, aren’t you?”

“Not really,” I said, even though I was thoroughly impressed.

“Ouch.” His hand tightened on my hip. “Then I suppose I’ll have to change that.”

This…the teasing was unfamiliar and exciting. Like when I discovered a new passageway in the Garden District, but way, way better. I liked it. A lot. It called to something inside me, something easy and free. “I suppose you do.”

But it was me who did.

My mouth reclaimed his, and the way our lips met was fierce and demanding, igniting a riot of wild, breathless sensations inside me that I eagerly fell and spiraled into. I was wonderfully lost in them—in him. The feel of his cool lips. The touch of his tongue against mine, and that unexpected nip of his fangs. His honey taste, and his lush scent. And I knew these were the kinds of kisses I’d read about in those books. The ones I’d never experienced at The Jade when I sought to ease the restless energy in me. Because I could do this for hours and never grow tired. I knew this because I wanted more. His hand on my hip squeezed and then skidded lower. A wicked twist of anticipation curled low and deep inside me.

Ash’s hand drifted to the edge of the slip, and then the rough skin of his palm skimmed my bare leg. In that moment, I didn’t think I’d ever been gladder that I wasn’t wearing pants.

His lips moved against mine as he drew his hand up the length of my leg, under the slip. I reacted without much thought, curling my leg in a silent request for him to keep exploring. Every part of my body went taut as his palm skimmed my bare upper thigh. An ache settled in a very unmentionable place, the one his hand was only inches from.

But he stilled.

Ash ended the kiss, breathing unevenly like me, and that shook me. A god was just as affected as I was. “This will…” He swallowed, looking down between us. “Gods…”

Every part of me focused on where the tips of his fingers brushed the lower curve of my rear. I looked down, following his gaze. The loose bodice of my slip had inched down, exposing just the hardened tips of my breasts. His gaze fell to where the hem of my slip had bunched around his forearm, dragged above my hips. The contrast of our skin, even in the moonlight, was a surprisingly intimate sight. As were the shadowy areas now exposed to the balmy night air—and to him.

Trembling, I glanced up at him. His features had sharpened, becoming stark. And there was this need and hunger to his parted lips. I could see a hint of those fangs, and another shudder ran through me. I wondered if I should attempt to shield myself from his gaze—if he expected that from me. But if he did, he would be disappointed. I wanted him to look upon me like he wanted to devour me.

And I thought I might actually want to be devoured.

I could feel the heated intensity of his stare as he lifted his gaze. He lowered his head, his mouth claiming mine. His kiss was demanding, tugging on my lower lip with his sharp fangs. I yielded to him, opening. The kiss deepened, and his tongue slid over mine, his mouth capturing my breathless moan. The taste of him, his smell…all of him invaded me, my senses, burning me. An aching, pulsing need centered in my core, so close to where his hand remained on my leg. His thumb moved along the crease of my thigh, sending a throbbing pulse through me as his mouth left mine, trailing down the side of my neck. He lingered over my pulse, his tongue a hot, wet slide against the flesh. His head tilted, and I felt the sharp, unexpected drag of his fangs.

My entire body arched as his name escaped on a soft exhale, “Ash.”

Mind thick with desire, it took a moment for me to register that he’d stilled. My eyes opened. “Is…is something wrong?”

He gave a small shake of his head. “No. It’s just that I…” He kissed the spot he’d nipped at. “I have never heard my name spoken like that. It’s a strange feeling.”

I skimmed my fingers down his arms, wondering how that could even be possible. “Is it a bad feeling?”

“No. It’s not,” he said, sounding surprised by his admission. I wasn’t sure what to think of that.

But then I was completely lost again as his lips began to move once more, trailing tiny, hot kisses down the line of my throat and over my collarbone. He moved lower and lower until his chin grazed the swell of my breast. My fingers dug into the taut skin of his arms as his cool breath danced over the turgid nub of flesh.

“You know what?” he asked.

“What?” I stared at the top of his dark head, my heart pounding.

“You can call me whatever you like.”

A light laugh spilled out of me. “I’m not sure you really mean that.”

“I do.” His head shifted, and his lashes swept up. Swirling silver eyes locked onto mine. “Anything.”

I couldn’t look away. His gaze held mine as his mouth closed over my breast, drawing the sensitive skin into the recesses of his mouth. I gasped at the shock of the coldness against the heat of my flesh. Another throbbing pulse darted through me as his hair fell forward, sliding over my skin.

He eased off, leaving me breathless. He kissed the space between my breasts. “Wouldn’t want this other one to get lonely.”

I gri

“Perhaps.” His tongue swirled on the nipple of my other breast. He drew the tingling peak into his mouth, dragging the edge of a fang across it. Another sharp cry left me. “But,” he said, sliding his tongue over the stinging flesh, “I think it’s all the wicked, indecent bones in my body guiding my thoughtfulness.”

I bit my lip as his mouth closed over the skin there once more. The feel of him…it was quite wicked, and then his thumb moved along my i

Need, wonder, and the intense fire he lit within me flooded every part of me with liquid heat. My patience, never my strong suit, failed.

I slid my hand down the corded muscles of his arm to where his hand remained on my thigh. His wandering thumb stilled, and his fingers splayed wide, grazing the dampness gathering between my thighs. My fingers ran over his.

His head lifted, and my eyes opened to find him staring down at me in a stark, hungry way that sent another wave of shivers through me. “What do you want from me, liessa?”

Something beautiful and powerful…

That’s what I wanted.

His lips parted, revealing the tips of his fangs. “Show me.”